It would seem that the fiacardservices franchise has become something of a bogeyman and even a dirty world within American society, as a record and ever increasing number of frustrated and aggrieved customers have sought legal action against the company on a variety of different grounds.
The complaints range in severity from the petty and pedantic, such as the customer support team taking longer periods of time to return phone calls and other communications made by customers than what has been advertised on their literature, to more severe allegations.
Some of the more troubling allegations that have been launched against the fiacardservices group include the likes of:
1) Fraudalent withdrawal of funds from the checking accounts of customers without their consent
2) Woefully inadequate information provided within official corporate literature which neglects to provide factual, objective and impartial information concerning the fees that the debtor maybe liable for whenever they use the fiacardservices group.
3) The counterfeiting of the personal details of their customers including the name, address and withdrawals of the customer to provide the company with a convenient and legitimate pretext which would competently and legally enable them to then withdraw funds.
4) Unsanctioned withdrawals being made from the personal accounts of customers, despite the fact that they are not actually late or in default with the repayment of any money or fees that are currently outstanding.
It would not be appropriate to comment upon whether or not these allegations are accurate or founded, and the reason for this is that the vast majority of these cases have either been brought to the immediate attention of the respective State Attorney General, or are currently in the court system at present.
However, it is worth noting that this current outbreak of consumer complaints and allegations of malpractice as well as unethical business practises on the part of the fiacardservices group is not the first time that the company has been in the public spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
In 2004, the fiacardservices group courted further controversy and adverse attention when the publication “Frontline WGBH Boston PBS” specifically mentioned the fiacardservices group as being involved in various activities that ranged from the outright illegal, to the merely unsavoury.
Worryingly, it would seem that if the issues raised and flagged in 2004 have not been solely restricted to the United States, and so there has been unethical business practises conducted by the fiacardservices further afield as well.
In Ireland, the organisation faced another raft of allegations of conducting a vicious and prolonged campaign of harassment and extortion against consumers who were either in default or merely late with their payments and in many instances, victims were contacted in excess of eight times a day.
Despite the affected parties making formal complaints to the relevant organisations, the campaign continued for sometime thereafter. However, the group suffered yet another stinging and resounding defeat in 2009 when it was forced to publicly admit and on record, that they had indeed overcharged a significant number of their customers.